Hangdog

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A base, degraded person.
Verb
  1. 1
    To move or loiter in a sneaking or ashamed manner.

    "With a twenty-one to three victory, Pinewood high-stepped it off the field while our Falcons hangdogged their way to the locker room."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Low; sneaking; ashamed. not-comparable

    "The poor colonel went out of the room with a hangdog look."

Adjective
  1. 1
    frightened into submission or compliance wordnet
  2. 2
    showing a sense of guilt wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
shamefacedabashedabjectafraidashamedbackscratching

Example

More examples

"The poor colonel went out of the room with a hangdog look."

Etymology

From hang + dog.

Related phrases

gallows bird

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.